Indicating device



, Y 4 1623.950 April 5, VH' R. SARGENT t 9 A I mmcnlue DEVICE y FiledDec. 31. 1921 2 Sheets-Shoot J.4

(9 f v v Y 3* April 5, 1927. 1,623,950 l H. RSARGENT rumen-ING DEVICEFiled Dec. 31. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @ZE-W INVENTOR.

' ATTORNEY.-

Patented Apr. 5, 1927.

HOWARD R. SARGENT, GF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

INDICATING DEVICE.

Application filed fecember 3l, 1921. Serial No. 526,366.

This invent-ion relates to indicating systems, such as a system forindicating the presenceor absence ot an employee from vices for use inVJfactories, theatres, hotels and similar' places. Hereinafter l willdescribed my invention with reference to means for indicating theabsence olf eniployes from their place oil Work. However, it willreadily be apparent hoiv the invention may be utilized in connectionwith hotels, or theatres, or 'for other like purposes.

The pre-sent time clocl': system employed i''or indicating andregistering the presence or absence oan employe comprises a rack in.vhich individual cards for veach employe are retained separately. Whenan employe leaves his place ot vvorl; he removes his individual cardfrom the rack, stamps it in the time clock, and then restores the card.into its compartment with the. reverse side ot tl e card presentedoutwardly. Then, when the employe returns to his place of employment, heagain removes his card from the rack, stamps it in the time clock, andreturns it to its compartment with .the iront face ot the cardoutwardly. This side ot the card outward in the rack indicates thepresence. of the employe and the reverse side ot' the card outward inthe racli indicates the absence ot the employe. Under the present timeclock system the sole visible indication of the presence or absence oian employe is effected bythe lposition ot' his or her card in the cardraclr of the time clock. rlhis rack is usually placed in a hallway orvestibule and is only examined occasionally for information of thepresence or absence of an employe. Moreover, il' these cards areexamined, at all, they are inlined by the head ot the departn'ient, ordelegated person, some considerable time a'i'ter the employe hasregistered hisl incoming and outgoing times thereon, and no attempt ismade to give indication at any place other than atthe cardY racli ot the,leaving or of the arrival of the einployes.r Vllhus,-unless someone isWatching, an employe leaves 1with the feeling that his absence will notbe detected until somelater time, it at all, lt,in addition tothisvlSible indication on the card rack, visible indication is also given inthe oflice of the head oi the department, or in the oilice of someonedelegated by the head of the department, as tol when the severalemployes ame in and when they lett the place ot employment, the moralette-eton the employes, who would know that there was a visible recordof their movements in the head otiice, would lead the employes to keepbetter working hours. Then` the employe. would not feel upon leavingthat the act would not be detected, but, on the contrary, would ieelthat his or her leaving Was not only immediately detected but also thatthe indication ot' absence would be continually before his superioruntil his or her return.

One oi' the objects oi' my invention is to provide a system forindicating the pres-- ence and absence ot employes, individually, byVvisibly indicating such facts at a card rack, placed in some suitable.location, as adjacent a time clock, and simultaneously and automaticallyvisibly indicating such facts at a place removed trom such card rack,as, for instance, in the oii'ice Where visible indication is desiredofthe presence or absence of the employes Whose cards areharbored in therack. Another object ot my invention is to provide an electricallyoperated indicating device adapted to be actuated by means of themovement ci' a card kinto or out of a compartment therefor in a cardrack, and a device which is adapted to register' differently accordingto different predetermined positions oi the card Ain its compartment, sothat'visible indication ot the. presence or absence ot an employe issimultaneously given at boththe card rack and at the indicator. therobjects Will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

'In accordance with my invention, l place electrically operatedindicating devices in the desired o'lice Where visible indication ol thepresence or absence oit' the enioloyes is desired. .l provide anindicating device Stor cach employe, the plurality' o; --.evice"i beingircferably contained in a single cabinet and actuated by a comme-nsource of current. Each oi these devices isl adapted to register In orGut, preferably by movement ot a target into oneposition or another, toindicate the presence or absence or" the employe tovvhom the device isallotted. I arrange anV electric circuit for operating the indicatingdevices and connect this circuit with electrical terminals harbored inthe compartments of a card rack, which may be a rack such as is used inconnection with time clocks, and place one set of terminals for anindicating device in each compartment. I arrange electrical contacts ona card, such as the standard card, which is intended to be placed in itscompartment in one position to indicate that the employe is in and to.be placed in another position in the compartmentto indicate that theemploye is out. I arrange each indicating device, the circuit, theterminals in the corresponding compartment, and the contacts on thecorresponding card, in such a way that when the card is removed from therack and replaced therein with the in side of the card presentedoutwardly the electrical indicator will register In, and that wheneverthe card is removed from the rack ant then replaced with its Out facepresented outwardly, the electrical indicator will iegister Out rllheindicator is arranged to remain set continuously at In or Gut so long asthe card remains in the rack in the corresponding position. The cardrack may be placed in any desired locality such as in a hallway orvestibule, and removed from the place or oiiice where the electricalindicator is placed. The card rack may comprise the card rack of a timeclock system.

Formerly, in order to ascertain if a certain employe was in or out, itwas necessary to go to the card rack and ascertain this fact by anexamination of the cards. By my improved system the presence or absenceof an employe can be ascertained by merely looking at the electricalindicator and thus my system and apparatus obviates the necessity ofexamining the cards in the rack, although the same information may alsohe ascertained in this way, if desired.

In order that a clearer understanding of my invention may be had,attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawings forming a partof this application and showing one of various possible embodiments ofmy invention. In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representationof my invention, including a card rack with cards therein, electricalcontacts on certain cards, electrical terminals in certain of saidcompartments, and an indicator, the parts being shown broken away tomore clearly bring out certain features of the mechanism; Fig. 2 is avertical section of a part of the card rack and is taken on the line 2-2of Fig. l; Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8.---3 of Fig.2; Fig. 4r is a front plan view of a card embodying my invention; Fig. 5is a rear plan view of the card illustrated in Fig. l; and Fig. 6 is afragmentary view in section ot the card showing the electrical contactpiece mounted thereon.

- Referring to the drawings, the card rack l is provided with aplurality of compartments 2, each compartment being adapted to harbor acard 3. rl`he card rack compartments and cards may be of a well knowntype and may suitably comprise a card rack and cards such as areemployed in connection with time clock systems. Each card has itsobverse face mark with the name of an employe and also preferably withthe word Init The reverse face of the card `preferably carries the wordOut. The card is adapted to be placed in its individual compartment withthe face marked In presented to view when the employe arrives at hisglace of employment, and the card is adapted to be removed from thecompartment and placed therein with the reverse face presented outwardlywhen the employe leaves the place. Usually, proper records of the timeof leaving and returning are placed upon the card as by printing thesame in a time clock. This printing operation, however, forms no part ofmy invention.

I provide two pairs of electrical terminals in each compartment. Asshown, one pair of terminals comprises two resilient strips of metal land 5 fastened to a frame member 6 of the card rack l by means of screws7. rIhe lower end of these terminal strips i and 5 are connected inelectrical engagement with the ends of conductors 8 and 9 respectively,these conductors being preferably held in place by means of the screws7. The other pair of each set of terminals is similar to the first pair,and, as shown, comprises two resilient strips of metal 1l and 5 fastenedto the frame member 6 of the card rack l by means of screws 7. The lowerends of these terminal strips a and 5 are connected in electricalengagement with the ends of conductors 8 and 9 respectively, theseconductors being preferably held in place by means of screws 7. As willbe hereinafter described, the making of electrical contact between onepair of these terminals will actuate a suitably located indicatingdevice into one indicating position and the establishment of electricalcontact between the ether pair of these terminals will actuate saidindicating device into another indicating position, such contacts beingadapted to be made by the cardas it is manipulated in the manner us alto time clock systems.

As before pointed out, in order to take advantage of the moral effect onthe employes, it is well to place the indicating devices in the otliceof a superior', but, obvieusly. the indicating devices may be placed inany desired locality. I preferably provide an indicating device for eachcompartment of the card rack so that each device will be individual toan employe, though I may, if desired, allot one device to llO severalcompartments or employes. These indicating devices be separately housedin suitable containers or, as shown, several or all may be mounted inone container 10. As shown, they indicating member ot each devicecomprises a target 11 which is movable so as to be presented at eitlieiIot' two windows, 2 and 12', formed in the onter wall oit the housing 10.The target is adapted to be presented at one oi the windows, snch as 12,when the card in the raclt signilies that the employe is at the place otemployment, and the target is adapted t-o be presented at the otherwindow, suoli as 12, when the card in the rack indicates that theemploye is absent. Accordingly, the iirst window, 12, may appropriatelybe labeled In7 as by placing the word In on the casing 10, adjacentthereto, Vas at 32, and the other window 12 may be labeled Ont7 as byplacing the word Gut on the casing 10 adjacent thereto, as at 33.

rthe target 11 is fastened to or toi-med on the upper end of a lever 21,which is pivotally mounted, as at 22, on the casing 10,

or on a support 1'4", attached thereto. The lower end of lever 21 ispivotally connected, as with a pin and slot connection 20, to the upperend 18 ot a lever 19, which is pivoted to the casing 10, or to thesupport 17, as at 16. Lever 19 carries an armature 15 which ishorizontally disposed over the ends ot' two electro-magnets 13 and 14 insnch a way that when magnet 13 is energized the adjacent end ot thearmature will be tilted downward, and when the magnet 14 is energizedthe end of the armature adjacent this magnet will be tilted downward.Thus it will be seen that when magnet 13 is energized the armature willbe tilted as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and by reason ot theabove described connection between the armature and the target 11 thistarget will be moved to window 12, and

when magnet 14 is energized, the armature 15 will be tilted into theposition shown in full lines in Fig. 12, and the target will be moved towindow 12. The target 11 is adapted to be held by the action of gravityat either one window or the other until a magnet is energized to causethe target to move to the other window. Each end ot the armature 15 isadapted to come to rest on one of the magnets, thereby acting as a stopto hold the target in proper position at the respective windows. Magnets13 and 14 are suitably supported within the casing 10.

1 establish an electrical circuit between one set of the terminals,suchas 4 and 5, in a compartment, and one of the magnets,

Vsuoli as 13, and also a circuit between the other set of terminals, 4and 5, and fthe other magnet, 14, a battery 23 or other 'suitablesourcev of current being supplied in the circuit. j As shown, thecircuit may be establishedl as tollowsz-From one pole ot the battery 23,a conductor `24^leads to conductors 8 and 8', which are in electricalconnection with the terminalpiece 4 and 4 in the compartment."The'conductor 9 leads trom the terminal 5, which opposes the terininal4, and communicates with the one end ot the coil of the magnet 13, andthe other end oit this coil conductor 25 connects with conductor 26which leads into the opposite pole of the battery 23. rlh'e conductor 9leads from the terminale', which is opposite the terminal 4', to one endof the coil of the magnet 14. The other end ot the coil ot this magnetis connected by conductor 27 to the conductor 2G which leads into thebattery 23. f

Each card 3 is supplied with a pair ot electrical contacts extendingfrom one tace pair ot terminals the contact establishes the y circuitbetween such terminals, and actuates either magnet 13 or magnet 14according to which pair ot terminals is bridged by a contact. Thecontacts 29 and 30 are so placed on the card that when the card is movedintoY or outof its compartment with its Out face presented outwardly,neither contact nor Contact 30 will engage or bridge either pair ofterminal pieces. Vhen, however, the card is passed into the compartmentwith the In tace presented forwardly, first contact 30 is arranged topass between the terminals 4 and 5', and to bridge the same temporarilyto complete the circuit between said terminals, and then,

upon Yfurther movement ot the card inwardly, the contact 29 is arrangedto pass between and to bridge both terminals 4 and 5 to temporarilyestablish electrical contact between these terminals. Then the card isinally'seated in its compartment, both contacts 29 and 30V will havepassed by the engaging portions ot the terminals 4, 4, 5 and 5, and nocircuit is' maintained. New, when this card is pulled out of itscompartment, first contact 29 will establish a circuit between theterminals 4 and 5, and then contact 30 willin'passing establish acircuit between the terminals 4 and 5. It will be readily apparent thatwhenever contact 29 establishes the circuit between the terminals 4 and5, magnet 13 is energized, thus causing the target 11 to be throwntowardthe right 'and into view at theewindow 12, and whenico evercontact establishes the circuit belows :.-The em love u )on arrivino'removes his card from its compartment. If the card is as it should bewith the Out face outward, this operation will have no effect upon thecircuit through the indicating device, since neither contact 29 norcontact 30 will engage either pair of terminals. The employe now stampshis card in the time clock, reverses it, and slides it into itscompartment with its In face presented outwardly. As the card enters itscompartment, in this position, first contact 30, in passing, willestablish a temporary circuit between terminals 4 and 5 and through themagnet 14, but if, as it should be, the target 11 is already in its Outposition no movement of the target will be effected. I-Iowever, uponfurther movement of the card into its compartment, contact 29, inpassing, establishes a temporary circuit between the terminals 4 and 5.This will energize the magnet 13 for a sufficient length of time tocause the target 11 to move into In position. The target will now stayin such position until the magnet 14 is energized. Then the employeeleaves, he draws the card out of its compartn'ient. During` thismovement first contact ,29, in passing, will again establish a circuitbetween terminals 4 and 5, but since the targetis already in Inposition, no movement of the target 11 will loe effected. Upon furtherwithdrawal of the card, contact 30, in passing, will establish a closedcircuit between terminals 4 and 5. This closed circuit energizes themagnet 14 and causes the target 11 to be thrown into its Out position.`When the card has been removed, it may be stamped in the time clock, ifdesired. Then, when the card is placed into its compartment with its Out.face outwardly, neither Contact 29 nor contact 30 will engage theterminal pieces in the compartment. and since no circuit is closed, thetarget 11 will remain in its Out position until the card is againinserted in its compartment with its In face presented outwardly, andthe magnet 13 energized by such movement of the card.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, as it is intended that -allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

Vhat I claim is 1. An indicatingV system of the character tweenterminals 4 and 5', magnet 14 is energized and thus causes the target tobev thrown to the left and into view at the Adescribed including a card,a compartment for the card, an electric indicator adapted to maintainthc indicating position to which it is actuated, and electrical means,including an electric circuit for the indicator, terminals in saidcompartment and cooperating contacts on the card, whereby the indicatorwill be actuated to give certain signals corresponding with the.direction of movement of the card, faced in a certain direction, intoand outof compartment, and whereby the indicator will not be actuatedupon movement of' the card, faced in the opposite direction, into andout of the compartment. c

2. An indicating system of the character .described including a card, acompartment for the card, an electric indicator adapted to maintain theindicating position to which it is actuated, and -electrical means,including an electric circuit for the indicator, terminals in saidcompartment and cooperating contacts on the card, whereby upon movementof the card, faced in a certain direction, into the compartment, theindicator will be actuated momentarily during this movement of the cardto become set in a certain indicating position.

3. An indicating system of the character described including a card, acompartment for the care, an electric indicator adapted to maintain theindicating position to which it is actuated, and electrical means,including an electric circuit for the indicator, terminals in saidcompartment and cooperating contacts on the card, whereby upon movementof the card, faced in a certain direction, into the compartment, theindicator will be actuated momentarily during this movement of the cardto become set in a certain indicating position, said means beinginoperative to actuate the indicator when the card is faced in theopposite direction.

4. In an indicating system of the character described, the combinationwith a card, a compartment therefor, an electric indicator adapted tomaintain the indicating position to which it is actuated, and a normallyopen supply circuit therefor; of means, including a contact movable withsaid card, for momentarily closing said circuit upon movement of thecard, faced in a predetermined direction, into the compartment, toactu-ate the indicating device to give a certain signal, but not closingsaid circuit upon movement of the card, when faced in the reversedirection, into the coinpartment.

5. In an indicating system of the character described, the combinationwith a card, a compartment therefor, an electric indicator adapted tomaintain the indicating position to which it is actuated, and a normallyopen supply circuit therefor; of

faced in the reverse' direction, into the compartment, and formomentarily closing .said

circuit upon movement of the card, faced-in. a predetermined direction,out'of the com-V partment, to actuate the indicating device to give acertain signal, but not closing said circuit upon movement of the card,when faced in the reverse direction, out of the compartment.

G. In an indicating system of the cliaracter described, the combinationwith a card, a compartment therefor, an electric indicator adapted tomaintain the indicating position to which it is actuated, and a normallyopen supply circuit therefor; of means, including contact carried on thecard olf the vertical center line thereof, for momentarily7 closingsaid'circuit upon each movement of the card into the compartment anddaring each movement of the card out of the con'ipartment, when the cardis faced in a predetermined direction, to actuate' the indicating deviceto give a signal corresponding to the direction of card movement, butnot closing said circuit upon any movement of the card, when faced inthe reverse direction, into and out of the compartment.

ln anelectric indicating system of the character' described, includingVan indicator adapted to maintain the indicating position to which it isactuated, a card, a' compartment therefor, an electric supply circuithaving open terminals, and a circuit closing Contact on said card'therelative location of the terminals in the compartment and the contact onthe card so that the contact will momentarily bridge said terminals toclose said circuit and actuate the indicator to give certain signalswhen the card, facing in a predetermined direction, is placed in andren'ioved from the compartment, and the contact will pass by theterminals Without closing the circuit and Without actuating theindicator When the card, faced in the reverse direction, is placed inand removed from the compartment.

8. In an electric indicating 'system of the character described,including an indicato-r adapted to maintain the indicating position towhich it is actuated, a card, a compartment therefor, an electric supplycircuit having open terminals, and a circuit closing contact on saidcard: the location of the terminals in the compartment and the contacton the card the same distance sidewise of the vertical center lines ofthe compartment and card so that the contact vvill moinentarily bridgesaid terminals to close said circuit and actuate the indicator togive-certain signals Whenihe card, Y'facing in a predetermineddirection, is placed in and removed from the compartment, and thecontact Will pass by the terminals Withoutclosing the circuit andWithout actuating the indicator When the card, faced in the reversedirection, is placed in and removed from the compartment.

.9. Inl an electric indicating vsystem of the character described,including anindicator adapted to maintain the indicating position towhich it is actuated, a card, a compa-rtment therefor, an electriccircuit having open terminals and circuit closing contacts on said card:the location of the terminals in theV compartment and the contact on thecard the same distance sideWise of the vertical center lines of theycompartment and cardpand at different distances from the vbot` tom edgesthereof, so that When the card, facing in a predetermined direction, isplaced in and removed from the compartment, the contact and terminalsWill coact during such movements to momentarily close said circuit toactuate the indicating device to give signals corresponding to thedirection of vcard movement, andv so that when the card, faced in thereverse direction, Ais placed in and removed from the compartment, saidcontact and terminals Willnot coact'during Such movements to close saidcircuit, and the indicator will not be actuated. v Y Y 10. In anelectric indicating system Iof the character described, in combination,anindicator adapted to maintain the indicating position to Which-it isactuated, -a card,.a compartment therefor, an electric Ycircuit havingtivo pairs-of terminals in said compartnient, and tworcircuitclosing-contactson said card; said pairs of terminals being located atdifferent heights in the compartment and at different distances from theside edges thereof, and said contacts having the same relative positionson the card :is the pairs oi" terminals have in the compartment,whereby, when said card, faced in a predetermined direction, is placedin and removed from said compartment, said contacts coact with saidpairs of terminals successively to momentarily close said circuit tivicein succession during each of .said movements to actuate the indicator togive signals corresponding to the direction of card movement, andwhereby, When said card, faced in the reverse direction, is placed inand removed froni the compartment, neit-her contact coacts With eitherpair of terminals to close said circuit, and the indicator Will not beactuated.

l1. In an indicating system of the chai'- acter described, thecombination with a card and a compartment therefor, of an electricalindicator adapted to maintain the indicating position to which it isactuated, an electrical supply circuit for said indicator, means movablewith said card and operating momentarily during movement ot said cardinto said compartiment for momentarily closing said circuit to actuatcsaid indicator into one indicating position and operating momentarilyduring removal. ot .said card 'from said compartment lor momentarilyclosing said circuit to actuate said indicator into another indicatingposition.

12. In an indicating system of the character described, the combinationwith a rack having a compartment tor a card, ol an electrically operatedindicator, a card movable into and out oi said compartment in either oneot two different positions and electrical means including terminals andterminal closing contacts responsive to movement ot said card vtoractuating said indicator to give ditllerent signals, depending uponwhich one ot the two different positions the card is in when it isinserted into or rci'noved troni the compartment.

13. 1n an indicating system or the character described, the combinationwith a card and a compartment therefor, o' an electrically operatedindicator adapted to maintain the indicating position to which it isactuated, two pairs ot electrical terminals in said compartment, a cardhaving two electrical contacts constituting means whereby when the cardis inserted into said compartment in a predetermined position, iirst oneot said contacts temporarily establishes an electrical connectionbetween one pair or terminals, and upon further movement or said cardinto said compartment, said other contact teinpo rarily establishes anelectrical connection between the other pair oi' terminals, andelectrical means whereby said connection between one pair ot terminalsoperates said indicator into one position, and means whereby saidconnection between said other pair ot' terminals operates said indicatorinto another position, said Contact means permitting the insertion intoor removal from the compartment of the card in another predeterminedposition without establishing an electrical vconnection between eitherpair of terminals.

1d. 1n an indicating system ot the character described, in combination,an indicator comprising a movable target, means comprising anelectro-magnet for moving said target into one indicating position, andmeans comprising a second electro-magnet ior moving said target intoanother indicating position and means tor maintaining said target in theposition into which it is moved, a compartment for a card, an electriccircuit for actuating one ot said magnets and including a pair otterminals in said compartment, an electric circuit tor actuating thesecond electro-magnet, including the second pair ot terminals in saidcompartment, a card having a pair ot cont-acts so arranged thereon thatwhen the card is inserted into or removed from said compartment in oneposition, said contacts wiil successively and temporarily establish thecircuits between the terminals ot' each pair to actuate said indicator,said card being adapted to be inserted into or removed from saidcompartment in another position with- -out establishing either ot saidcircuits.

rthis speciiication signed and witnessed this 22nd day of December,1921.

HOWARD R. SARGENT.

